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Mediocre is Better than Bad (01/30/2007)

released: Jan 30, 2007

description: The town of Mediocre boasts 17,000 residents, an average church congregation, an average sports record, and a generally vanilla lifestyle. Mr. Jenkins drives his daughter, Betty, to live with her grandmother there -- he believes the city has become too unsafe for her and she is getting into trouble. The two pull up to the house, and Betty is introduced for the first time to her grandmother, who sings the praises of the town of Mediocre. While her father and grandmother discuss the issues of city living versus Mediocre living, Betty meets Marjorie, who is curious as to why Betty is living with Crazy Old Lady Jenkins. Betty begs Marjorie to show her what the cool kids in town do. The two end up at the 7-Eleven, where Marjorie introduces Betty to Dawn and Stinky Pete. All of the kids head out to the gazebo to set off fireworks. Betty asks if that is all there is, and the kids agree that this is pretty exciting for them. As it so often does in small bland towns, the question of dancing arises; the residents of Mediocre can dance, but just not that well or often. Betty is incensed by this fact. The next day at a school assembly regarding Spirit Week, Betty informs Principal Deavers that at her old school, Spirit Week always culminated in a dance. Principal Deavers becomes enraged at Betty's spunk and cancels all of Spirit Week. Back at home, Crazy Old Lady Jenkins inspires Betty with her tales of how she stood up against Boeing during the war, and how she went on to win the dance competition. She tells her granddaughter that the glory wasn't in the exciting parts; the fun was in the boring, and that is the Mediocre way. Betty gathers up her friends and together, they find an abandoned assembly hall, redecorate it, buy dance shoes, and rent a DJ, all while they are supposed to be in Biology. As they sit back to admire their work, Principal Deavers bursts in and hands them all in school suspensions for cutting class -- and they are to serve these suspensions right when the dance is to take place. Dejected, Betty turns to her grandmother for help that night on the porch swing. Her grandmother gives her what advice she can, as well as her old Colt 45. Betty is bewildered as to what she should do with it, but her grandmother tells her she'll know when the time comes. At lunch the next day, Betty and her friends try to figure out how they can still successfully have their dance. They finally come up with the plan to shoot the gun outside their assembly hall so that everyone knows to come there. They do so that night, discovering the gun shoots a message that there is a dance that night, and that immediately draws the attention of the Backgammon Club. Unfortunately, they also draw the attention of Principal Deavers, who arrives with intent to punish them all for ignoring their suspension. He, in turn, is confronted by Crazy Old Lady Jenkins, who pistol whips him and tells the kids they can all come back to her house to hang around on the porch, listen to the radio, and eat biscuits with jam. Everyone does so and this results in Mediocre happiness.

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